San Francisco and Humboldt County officials are trading remarks over Mayor London Breed's plans to more aggressively push for a city program that provides funding to relocate homeless people to other communities where they have family or ties.

At a meeting Tuesday, Humboldt County Supervisors Draft of the letterIn a letter to Breed, they questioned whether the city of San Francisco is actually housing and working the homeless people it busses out.

“We are concerned that offering a bus ticket to another jurisdiction without verifying access to housing, family supports, and employment will not alleviate the homelessness issue but will simply displace the person to another county,” the letter states.

Supervisors were reacting to a recent report. San Francisco Standard The top three destinations for homeless people bused out of San Francisco starting in September 2023 were Sacramento, Los Angeles and Humboldt counties, according to the study.

“We don't need to be a dumping ground,” Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Vaughn said at the meeting. “The cost of caring for a homeless person who doesn't have anything here … is expensive.”

Breed's office said the idea that San Francisco is pushing its homeless problem north is an exaggeration, noting that Humboldt County also sends homeless people south.

Over the past year, San Francisco helped five people move to Humboldt County, while Humboldt County helped four people move to the bayside city, according to data from both jurisdictions.

Humboldt County's concerns center on San Francisco's program. Journey Home Breed launched the program in fall 2023 to help homeless people return to their hometowns or relocate to family, friends or other California cities where they have a history. The city will pay for bus, plane and train fares and provide food allowances.

The program is a key component of Mayor Breed's high-profile campaign to more forcefully dismantle the vast tent camps that have sprung up across the city in recent years. The effort, which began in July, was boosted by a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28 that gave local communities more legal authority to ban homeless people from sleeping in public spaces.

Aid workers backed by law enforcement officers have been deployed across the city in recent weeks, ordering people to remove their tents, offering them treatment and housing and issuing fines for those who refuse help.

As part of this effort, Breed Administrative Order On Aug. 1, outreach workers were required to provide homeless people who are not from San Francisco with free relocation assistance through Journey Homes “before providing them with other city services, including housing or shelter.”

Anne Estimated 8,300 people San Francisco has a homeless population, about half of whom sleep in makeshift shelters in parks and sidewalks, according to the city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. About 40% of people living on the streets say they're not from San Francisco, according to the city's 2024 Homelessness Survey.

About 300 miles to the north, Humboldt County is struggling with its own homelessness problem. The numbers are much smaller — about 1,600 people — but local officials are struggling to meet the need in a rugged, rural environment with far fewer resources.

“There is no influx of homeless people from San Francisco into Humboldt County,” Humboldt County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Christine Messinger said in a statement.

“The county and its member agencies in the Humboldt Housing and Homelessness Coalition are already finding themselves stretched thin on resources to care for the people who live here, and an influx of new people could negatively impact those efforts.”

Humboldt County also has a relocation assistance program as part of its efforts to get people into housing. Last year, the county helped 142 people move around the country, including four who moved to San Francisco, Messinger said. The county has denied assistance to nearly 100 people.

But supervisors who have criticized San Francisco's approach say Humboldt's program is far more complicated, with county officials supposed to make sure participants have family and friends and jobs waiting for them, and to follow up with people where they go.

In contrast, Vaughn argued, San Francisco doesn't track whether people who move to Humboldt County settle and find jobs and stable housing.

“You say, 'I want to go here,' you get a bus ticket and you can go. There's no further paperwork or anything,” Vaughn said.

Moreover, he said, San Francisco essentially gives homeless people the choice of leaving town or taking legal action.

“I don't want to hurt San Francisco's feelings,” he said, “but on the other hand, I don't care.”

Breed's spokesman, Jeff Cretan, denied the portrayal that San Francisco was sending homeless people out of the city without due diligence. He said Journey Home helps “reconnect homeless people with friends, family or communities where they were previously living.” He said city officials spoke with family and friends “who are seeking homelessness” before bussing them to Humboldt.

And while he acknowledged that Humboldt County is one of the most popular “trips home” destinations, he said the numbers are small.

In addition to the five people transferred to Humboldt County in the past year, six people have been transferred to Sacramento, five to Los Angeles and 13 to other parts of the state, Cretan said. Seven people have been transferred to Nevada and nine to Oregon.

Cretan said he wasn't aware that city staff were required to follow up with Journey Home participants after they were relocated, but added, “Sometimes you just can't find people. That's the reality.”

For now, Humboldt County leaders have paused on formally drafting a letter to Mayor Breed. Messinger said county officials will be in direct contact with San Francisco city officials and “will engage in further discussions before making a final decision on whether to send a letter to the mayor.”